


My True Love

by wanderlustlover



Series: Wanderlustlover's Yuletides [12]
Category: The Originals (TV)
Genre: F/M, Forever and Always, Gen, Misses Clause Challenge, Multi, Other, The Red Door, Yuletide 2016
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-17
Updated: 2016-12-17
Packaged: 2018-09-09 03:49:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,739
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8874604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wanderlustlover/pseuds/wanderlustlover
Summary: Hayley's first two Christmas's spent with The Original family in the show. Part one is set to Christmas one and 2.09 ("The Map of Moments"), Part two is set to the second Christmas during 3.09 ("Savior").





	1. The First Christmas

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Apricot](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Apricot/gifts).



  
_On the first day of Christmas_  
_My true love sent to me_  
**_A partridge in a pear tree_ **  

[ There was one a savior who died on a tree as a gift. ]

 

**I. Devotion;**

She’s  a corona of light, so bright she’s blinding brilliance, fierce burn. All she’s given, the lies she told, about her child’s death, that might as well have been, ripped from her too early. Even they, who could not touch the mortal life, could feel her pain, like a pall. 

There was nothing in her eyes, face, that was not for Hope. Utter devotion to the necessity that kept her alive, fight her own gaping maw. The tight pressed eyes, fingers in her back, gentle as dawn, and fierceness unchained, and Elijah cannot convince himself, polite discretion, to look away.

 

* * *

   
_On the second day of Christmas_  
_My true love sent to me_  
**_Two turtle doves_ ** _and_  
_A partridge in a pear tree_

 

[ Two testaments, new and old. ]

 

**II. Peace;**

Hayley’s heart thundered as they rounded the bend, eyes catching on a form so small it was a scrap pink against Elijah’s perfectly pristine suit. She didn’t remember the car door slamming,  her feet pounding, even the unassailable tension between her and Elijah, like a rubber band snapping back into place, tissue paper thin before this.

 It was impossible, might shatter at any instant. Sky erupting. Earth splitting. Desperation hit her like bricks, and love so sharp it felt like she might die. Her breath caught inside her, as she held her daughter to her tight and gentle in one.

 

* * *

 

 _On the third day of Christmas_  
_My true love sent to me_  
**_Three french hens_ **  
_Two turtle doves and_  
_A partridge in a pear tree_

 

[ The three gifts of The Spirit. ]

 

** III. Faith, Hope, and Love; **

There is darkness on their doorstep, even in the warm of this southern breadbasket winter. Setting mattered little after so much time, even if the classic appeal holds true. What’s most important does, too: their family is together. Or as together as they can, currently, be.

Rebekah and Hope in from lonely exile, returned to them. The only one missing from nearness Kol, though his whereabouts were easier laid to. Even in another’s face, he was in their port home, with his Harvest Girl. The only one erstwhile and estranged, Finn, who hid in their Mother’s skirts.

 

* * *

 

 _On the fourth day of Christmas_  
_My true love sent to me_  
**_Four calling birds_ **  
_Three french hens_  
_Two turtle doves and_  
_A partridge in a pear tree_

 

[ The four gospels which sing the song of salvation. ]

 

**IV. Deliverance;**

Watching them, Hope always in her arms, it cuts into her heart.

She doesn’t belong here. One of these things is not like the others. The same reason she’s here, they’re here. The baby in her arms, heavy and sleeping. The only child of The Originals, and  in that, the child of all of them, and her, too. The first wolf this way kept.

 She’s found two families, who had none, and this isn’t the one she has to choose. Her people need her, even at the price of Jackson. Herself. Choose the werewolves over the vampires. Over Klaus.

 

Elijah.

 

* * *

           

 _On the fifth day of Christmas_  
_My true love sent to me_  
**_Five golden rings_ **  
_Four calling birds_  
_Three french hens_  
_Two turtle doves and_  
_A partridge in a pear tree_

 

[ The first five books. ]

**V. Elijah’s Wish;**  

The worst part of it isn’t the wash of violent, bloodsoaked memories that slide across his vision, from behind the red door, when Hayley says that she has to marry Jackson. For her wolves. To save them. Set them free of their curse. Too clear, he can see what she can’t say.

She’ll do this at the expense of herself. Again.

While still paying the price of her daughter.

 

The worst is that he loves who she is, wants her, most as she slides further away.

It’s no wonder the bookcase saw no mercy the moment after they were kissing.

 

* * *

  

 _On the sixth day of Christmas,_  
_My true love sent to me_  
**_Six geese a-laying_ **  
_Five golden rings_  
_Four calling birds_  
_Three french hens_  
_Two turtle doves and_  
_A partridge in a pear tree_

 

[ The six days of creation. ]

 

**VI. Hayley’s Wish;**

Elijah tells her to do it and her heartbreaks. More than his saying not to. Wide shocked eyes and hard hands, but all nobility, all understanding, shattering apart in front of her. Literally. Elijah, who never loses his calm, collected, gentility, starts shaking, face and shoulders. Eyes dark as black holes.

Their hands are brutal with unfairness on each other's skin, and there are tears in her eyes and nails in his back when she moans beneath him, into his skin, knowing she wished for freedom for her people, and safety for her daughter,

But this,

she wished,

for herself.

 


	2. The Second Christmas

_On the seventh day of Christmas,_  
_My true love sent to me_  
**_Seven swans a-swimming_ **  
_Six geese a-laying_  
_Five golden rings_  
_Four calling birds_  
_Three french hens_  
_Two turtle doves and_  
_A partridge in a pear tree_

 

[ The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. ]

 

**VII. Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel,**   
**Knowledge, Fortitude, Piety, and Wonder;**

 They fight, fuck, the world explodes around them, and they’re supposed to hold on. They promised. Everything else pulls them apart, even her own heart played traitor, but they’d said their vows. Above their people, and their once tattered, shattered destiny.

 The house of Jacks absence worse as Christmas almost arrived. The songs began to sing of family, and signs of it popped up everywhere, which she wasn’t without him. She needed her husband, and her daughter, whatever that cost.

 Except, even choosing Jackson, alway Jackson, she could not bring herself to say,

even for him, she didn’t love Elijah.  

 

* * *

 

 

_On the eighth day of Christmas,_  
_My true love sent to me_  
**_Eight maids a-milking_ **  
_Seven swans a-swimming_  
_Six geese a-laying_  
_Five golden rings_  
_Four calling birds_  
_Three french hens_  
_Two turtle doves and_  
_A partridge in a pear tree_

 

[ The eight beatitudes. ]

 

 **VIII.  Blessed;**  
 

They’re together, again. Or as much as they can be.

Rebekah risen from a bloodbath ocean. Klaus in the tow of Cammie, realizing there were some things one couldn’t fight. Freya, newly gained sister, slipped in like they’d always been waiting.  Kol taken from them forever, Finn trapped and in Freya’s hands, metaphorically. The best of them for the task, given their deeper bond.

Hope with Hayley, and Jackson. The small trinity knotted forever with Klaus and the rest of them. Family, too.

It wasn’t perfect, but nothing ever was. Still. They’re together, again. As much as they can be.

 

* * *

  

_On the ninth day of Christmas,_  
_My true love sent to me_  
**_Nine ladies dancing_ **  
_Eight maids a-milking_  
_Seven swans a-swimming_  
_Six geese a-laying_  
_Five golden rings_  
_Four calling birds_  
_Three french hens_  
_Two turtle doves and_  
_A partridge in a pear tree_

 

[ The nine fruits of The Spirit. ]

 

**IX. love, joy, peace, forbearance,**  
**kindness, goodness, faithfulness,**  
**gentleness and self-control;**  


The words that happen pierce through to her heart every time. Jackson demanding to know whether she loved Elijah, calling her out on the forced sharing of her heart, known at the beginning or not. He wasn’t wrong. Her own heart called her on it. The unfairness to want, love, them both.

Rebekah, under the magic mark, not herself, sneering she could still break Elijah’s heart and did it to prove her importance still. She wasn’t wrong. Her own heart called her on it. The unfairness of loving, wanting, Elijah still, to know it killed him, as it did her.   

 

* * *

 

 

_On the tenth day of Christmas,_  
_My true love sent to me_  
**_Ten lords a-leaping_ **  
_Nine ladies dancing_  
_Eight maids a-milking_  
_Seven swans a-swimming_  
_Six geese a-laying_  
_Five golden rings_  
_Four calling birds_  
_Three french hens_  
_Two turtle doves and_  
_A partridge in a pear tree_

 

[ The ten commandments. ]

 

 **X. Imperative;**  
 

The is one rule that will never break, never be broken, never be put aside: 

 **Always. Forever. Family Above All.**  

In a year of complication, loss and, gain these words ring most true. Freya. Hope. Kol.  Finn. With the prophecy a scythe-swinging. _You will all fall. One by friend, one by foe, and one by family._

It is a knife in his heart, to slide a dagger into Rebekah’s. To know this will be another wash of family blood on his hands, another lie he will bury under his tongue, and dress up with his jackets and ties.

 

* * *

 

 

_On the eleventh day of Christmas,_  
_My true love sent to me_  
**_Eleven pipers piping_ **  
_Ten lords a-leaping_  
_Nine ladies dancing_  
_Eight maids a-milking_  
_Seven swans a-swimming_  
_Six geese a-laying_  
_Five golden rings_  
_Four calling birds_  
_Three french hens_  
_Two turtle doves and_  
_A partridge in a pear tree_

 

[ The eleven faithful disciples. ]

 

**XI. Hayley’s Wish;**

  
Hayley meant what she offered. She would have forsaken the Mikaelson’s. For one night. For Jackson. For their family. For them. To choose them. Again. But he’s the one who chose them today. Freya, in an alley, then dying, then Rebekah losing her mind. Jackson and Hayley both at their side. 

(And she knows. She never would have forsaken either.

 Even without Jacks’ choice.)

When he says he has a better idea, and leads her down, calling them her family, their family, Hayley’s heart filled her. Nothing could displace that. Not the loss of Rebekah, or need for Elijah near.

 

* * *

_On the Twelfth day of Christmas,_  
_My true love sent to me_  
**_Twelve drummers drumming_ **  
_Eleven pipers piping_  
_Ten lords a-leaping_  
_Nine ladies dancing_  
_Eight maids a-milking_  
_Seven swans a-swimming_  
_Six geese a-laying_  
_Five golden rings_  
_Four calling birds_  
_Three french hens_  
_Two turtle doves_  
_and a partridge in a pear tree_

 

[ The twelve points of an apostles' creed. ]

 

 **XII. Elijah’s Wish;**  
 

It’s another --the first -- dagger in the heart, watching the three come down the stairs.

Family Above All, but a unit, apart, alone, one street and one world away. Even if they have been part of this whole day, this year. It is no obvious slight of the pain, when he leans down to welcome Hope to her second Christmas as his only first greeting.

Still he cannot stay away. Aside from with his siblings. She is a flame he can’t ignore for trying, but her happiness in this night, family, and surrounded by it, is all he can wish.

 


End file.
